UK Weather: Cold Snap Ends Mild Autumn

Snow that blanketed parts of Scotland and the north east of England will give way to cold, sunny weather on Saturday.

But the crisp start to the weekend will turn mild and dank on Saturday evening, and on Sunday rainclouds will cover almost the entire UK.

The first cold snap of the season brought wintry showers to Scotland on Friday and its first meaningful dump of snow.

Snow fell across north-east England overnight into Saturday morning, as far as north Lincolnshire.

But the rain, sleet and hail showers running down the east side of the UK will clear into the North Sea on Saturday as winds come from the west.

Northumberland looked picturesque under the light snow on Friday

Victoria Kettley, a forecaster for MeteoGroup, the weather division of the Press Association, said: "We can't rule out more wintry showers - these might fall as snow very locally on high ground like the North York Moors, but will generally be sleet, rain or hail.

"Temperatures will be between about 7C and 10C, and in central Scotland overnight tonight won't get above 4C or 5C.

"This afternoon rain will push into north-west Scotland, and the rest of UK will be dry and cold, with sunny spells. It will be cold across north-west Scotland and rain pushing in afternoon."

With winter on our doorsteps the Local Government Association (LGA) said that hundreds of gritters were on standby to treat roads as required.

An LGA survey of councils across England and Wales found there is currently about 1.3 million tonnes of salt in council depots - enough to fill more than 400 Olympic-sized swimming pools. This is about twice as much as was used during last winter.